“The Comedy Is Finished”

Last Words – Beethoven – Bio

Last Words – Beethoven – Legacy

The Beethoven Monument, Bonn, was unveiled in August 1845, in honour of his 75th anniversary.

It was the first statue of a composer created in Germany, and the music festival that accompanied the unveiling was the impetus for the very hasty construction of the original Beethovenhalle in Bonn (it was designed and built within less than a month, on the urging of Franz Liszt).

A statue to Mozart had been unveiled in Salzburg, Austria in 1842. Vienna did not honour Beethoven with a statue until 1880. His is the only name inscribed on one of the plaques that trim Symphony Hall, Boston; the others were left empty because it was felt that only Beethoven’s popularity would endure.